Natasa Christofidou,

November 08 2018, 5

5 Steps for Business Success

Before we delve into the next five steps, it’s important to remember that success means something different for everyone, so there’s really no magical recipe to success, whether it’s in your personal or professional life. Whilst the ‘bigger picture’ can look quite similar to a lot of people, the more personal elements that contribute to one’s success will differ according to peoples’ lifestyle and occupation.

Nonetheless, there are definitely important steps you can follow to ensure that you stay on track with your productivity and your positive state of mind. We all get told that consistency is key and that there’s an immense amount of value in trying your best, but can that be any vaguer?

Below, I’ve summarised 5 helpful steps for your route to success:

1. Break Your Snoozing Habit

I’m starting with the obvious here, but If you expect to be successful without accomplishing your first task of the day, then you’ve already let yourself down. Now hold up, if you’re a serial snoozer and end up running late every morning, then you can fix your productivity curve from the get-go. Put your phone at the other end of the room, so you have to physically get out of bed to turn it off. Once you’re awake and out of bed, then you’re unlikely to jump back under the covers.

Tell yourself that snoozing isn’t even an option.Do it enough times and it becomes a habit.You ’ll end up surprising yourself when you become an early riser.

2. Write a To-Do List & Stick To It

Have a game plan for what you’re going to do every day and use it as a way of motivating yourself to get things done. If you’ve managed to get out of bed without pressing snooze, then go ahead and tick that off your list before leaving the house.

To get started, if you’re not used to writing things down in a diary, you can use your desktop’s in-built calendar, or one on your phone to keep track of your tasks. This will help to get you into a mind-frame of how your time can be allocated throughout the day, week, and month. However, I’ve realised that physically picking up a pen and writing down a ‘to-do’ list in the morning helps me the most. There’s something about being able to write down and tick off tasks that makes it all the more rewarding and exciting to work your way through the list.

3. Rome Wasn’t Built In a Day

Trust me, I’ve heard that phrase as many times as you have too. But guess what? It’s true!

In the same way that Rome wasn’t built in a day, your success won’t just happen overnight. Don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re not entitled to automatic success, and if you were given it on a platter- it wouldn’t feel half as rewarding than if you worked your *** off for it.

Success comes through progress, a process that takes time.

4. Don’t be Afraid of Failure

Let yourself fall, but make sure you pick yourself up, brush off the dirt, and get back on track.

If you’re searching for a recipe to success without the element of failure in it, then you need to give yourself a serious reality check because failing is part of the process.

We exist within a global business market, where the competition and alternatives are endless. You will face failure and rejection, but don’t let that get you down. Get into the habit of accepting and even embracing your so-called failures by learning valuable lessons on what does or doesn’t work and what to do instead. Use your mishaps as a learning experience because (apologies for the upcoming cheesy ending) a bump on the path doesn’t determine your whole journey.

5. Don’t Take Everything Personally

Put your heart and soul into it.Follow your passion and try as hard as you can.But don’t take everything personally.

If you’ve put ‘everything’ into a business project and things go south, it can be hard to not take that result personally. After all, it can seem like all your hard work was for nothing and that things didn’t work out because of your contribution.

But…. The world is NOT working against you. Sometimes, it really does just come down to ‘timing.’ Don’t let this stop you, eventually, things will turn out in your favour.

Natasa Christofidou

Writes articles about business process outsourcing and customer service.